H

X824/76/11
National
Qualications
2022
English
Reading for Understanding,
Analysis and Evaluation — Text
WEDNESDAY, 11 MAY
9:00 AM – 10:30 AM

Total marks — 30
Read the passages carefully and then attempt ALL questions, which are printed on a separate
sheet.

*X8247611*

A/SA
 The following two passages discuss space exploration.

Passage 1

Read the passage below and attempt questions 1 to 8.

In the first passage, the journalist A.A. Gill considers the value of space exploration. He starts with
the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, when the first human stepped on the moon.

You really had to be there to understand, to fully appreciate, quite how astronomically
underwhelming man’s first step on the Moon actually was. Neil Armstrong finally getting out of
the silver portacabin, gingerly setting his big wellies in the dust, like an old person getting off a
bus, and saying, ‘One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.’ Back in the studio, the
5 announcer had to repeat what Armstrong had said. So what we actually heard was a spaceman’s
first words from a television studio.
We’d waited for this giant leap for hours. Nothing happened relentlessly, building expectation to
an anaesthetic slumber, until they blew the hatch on the greatest anti-climax of the twentieth
century. In fact, everything that happened in all the years of the space race between the
10 superpowers of the United States of America and the Soviet Union was nothing like as exciting as
what happened on Star Wars. Space never lived up to its billing.
In the 1960s, science fiction was hitting its golden age and space was an easy sell. It was exploited
by people who wanted to sell things to children: space themed sweets, cereal and duvet covers.
No country wanted to be left out of the space race between the superpowers, and I came to
15 realise that space exploration wasn’t about people becoming gods in the wide blue yonder; it was
about international brand promotion and market share on Earth. Space wasn’t the final frontier. It
was just a bigger billboard.
Any dignity space might have had left was lost with the idea of the time capsule — a gift from us
to whoever, or whatever, might be out there in space. It’s impossible to know how much serious
20 thought and energy went into this most absurd and arrogant of exercises. The idea of the time
capsule was to send a message to passing extra-terrestrials in the form of a container which held
all sorts of bits and pieces. These items were intended to represent all humanity: religious and
literary works, fragments of Mozart and the Beatles, and images of a man and a woman, etched
into indestructible kryptonite. They’re still up there, representing us as a kind of space-age Barbie
25 and Ken.
And we knew then that space was not about up there at all — it was about down here and how
we, and our leaders, viewed ourselves. Space exploration came to represent the ego-ridden vanity
of government and power. When the race was won, nobody went back to the Moon — there was
nothing they wanted or needed on it. In a very human way, they just left some junk up there. It
30 wasn’t grand or brave or intrepid; it was ugly and stupid and laughable. The space race wasn’t
about explorers like Columbus or Magellan or Cook bringing back something useful or explaining
something important. It was pointless and wasteful.
So what has it left us with? Space stations, cosmic junk floating around the universe, and school
project experiments. Kaliningrad, the Russian space mission control centre, has given space more
35 travellers than any other place. It boasts dozens of memorials to the daring adventures of the
travellers to distant darkness. But the statues are chipped, filthy and overgrown. The space race
isn’t a symbol of power. It’s an embarrassment, and that is the great truth about the space
programme: it was supposed to be the future, but it got overtaken by the present. The rockets,
the magnificent noise and power and fury that was meant to symbolise our energy to go on and
40 up, now looks like wasteful carbon technology. The future isn’t going to be in exploding
ever-greater amounts of fossil fuel. The dream that space exploration would find new worlds for
humanity to colonise looks like it won’t materialise.

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 All that new science that was promised turned out to be nothing more than gadgets like tap-water
filters and pens that write upside down. The massive leap forward of the space age was computing
45 — and that had nothing to do with actual space missions. The science of propelling large lumps of
metal containing two foil-wrapped people through gravity is as obsolete as the technology of
steam trains.
The one lasting aesthetically beautiful thing that did come from the whole guzzling, ugly space
business was that famous photograph of our blue planet taken from space: astonishing and
50 moving and vulnerable, our great group photo. And, ironically, that photo did more than anything
to kick-start the environmental movement.
We needed to get out of the world to look back and see what was important and where the fight
for the future really lay. The final frontier is not out there beyond the Milky Way. The excitement
is on Earth. The heroes children want aren’t spacemen, they’re climate activists. Ultimately, the
55 planet we need to get to is our own.

Passage 2

Read the passage below and attempt question 9. While reading, you may wish to make notes on
the main ideas and/or highlight key points in the passage.

In the second passage from the NASA website, the writer considers various positives linked to space
exploration.

Humanity’s interest in the heavens has been universal and enduring. We humans are driven to
explore the unknown, discover new worlds, push the boundaries of our scientific and technical
limits, and then push further. The desire to explore and challenge the boundaries of what we know
and where we have been has inspired us and has provided benefits to our society for centuries.
5 This is the beginning of a new era in space exploration. Decades on from successfully landing on
the Moon, explorers may soon be in a position to visit near-earth asteroids (mini planets), which
will provide valuable mission experience and prepare us for the next steps — possibly for the first
humans to set foot on Mars.
Asteroids are believed to have formed early in our solar system’s history — about 4.5 billion years
10 ago. By visiting these near-earth objects we can look for answers to some of humankind’s most
compelling questions, such as: how did the solar system form and where did the Earth’s water and
other organic materials come from? In addition, by understanding more about asteroids we may
learn more about past collisions with Earth and possibly find ways to reduce the threat of future
impacts.
15 Future missions to asteroids will prepare humans for long-duration space travel and, hopefully,
the eventual journey to Mars. Mars has always been a source of inspiration for explorers and
scientists. Unmanned expeditions have found evidence of water, but whether life exists beyond
Earth remains a mystery. These missions have shown that Mars has characteristics and a history
similar to Earth’s, but we know that there are striking differences that we have yet to begin to
20 understand. Humans can build upon this knowledge and look for signs of life while investigating
Mars’ geological evolution, using research methods that could be applied here on Earth.
A mission to Mars — our nearest planetary neighbour — provides the best opportunity to
demonstrate that humans can live for extended, even permanent, stays beyond low Earth orbit.
The technology and space systems required to transport and sustain explorers will drive innovation
25 and encourage creative ways to observe, adapt, and uncover new knowledge both in space and
here on Earth. As previous space endeavours have demonstrated, the resulting ingenuity and
technologies will have long-lasting benefits and applications in areas of vital human importance:
medicine, engineering, information technology and transport.

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 The challenge of travelling to Mars and learning how to live there will encourage nations around
30 the world to work together to achieve such an ambitious undertaking. The International Space
Station has shown that opportunities for collaboration will highlight our common interests and
provide a global sense of community.
Clearly, human space exploration helps to address fundamental questions about our place in the
Universe and the history of the solar system. Through addressing the challenges related to human
35 space exploration we expand technology, create new industries, and help to foster a peaceful
connection with other nations. Curiosity and exploration are vital to the human spirit and accepting
the challenge of going deeper into space will invite the citizens of the world today, and the
generations of tomorrow, to join in this exciting journey.

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Acknowledgement of copyright
Passage 1 — Extract is taken from “A A Gill is Further Away” by A A Gill. ISBN 9780297863809. Published by
Orion Publishing Group Ltd. Reproduced with permission of the Licensor through PLSclear.
Passage 2 — Text is adapted from https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/whyweexplore/why_we_explore_
main.html. © NASA.

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